INTRODUCTION

The Firestarter Award Program was established in April 2005, to award Excellence in Web Page Design. It has been created to honour all the hard work, time and effort, originality and talent that have been put into a Web Site. There are 3 award levels, Gold, Silver and Bronze and our coveted Site Of the Year Award. There is also a special award for excellent art related sites. After applying to award programs for my own site, Firestarter Pyrography, I developed an interest in the award application process. I then decided to create my own, a decision that I have not regretted. My Award program has now been listed with the Internet's Top Award ratings. I have also had the pleasure to meet fellow webmasters and evaluators along the way. Their knowledge is helping me to learn more about web design, as I am continually striving to improve my own site and I have an insatiable thirst to learn more! My award has been designed to honour those who have burnt the midnight oil and strive to make the world wide web a better place.

Aim

There are three main objectives to my award: *design *content *navigation.
My aim is to reward webmasters from beginners to advanced designers. Your website does not have to include all the recent technologies, I am looking for interesting content. Surface graphics add to the presentation but I am looking for a high quality and interesting experience when visiting your site. I also encourage webmasters to ensure that their sites are family friendly and are continuing to work, update and improve their sites.

Team Objectives

The Firestarter Award Program has a panel of judges, this is to ensure an accurate assessment as every viewer has their own tastes and opinions. Each member of my team has a specialist knowledge in one or more areas of web design. From coding to colours, layout to typography. We endeavour to use the evaluation criteria for a fair appraisal of your site and comply to the code of ethics. All applicants will receive a detailed analysis and scoring breakdown. Our findings are meant as a guideline towards improvement. I think that it is always a good idea to have a fresh pair of eyes to look over a site, as small errors can easily be overlooked. Our dedication is to ensure that the Firestarter Award Program is a useful and valued resource. You will never be simply disqualified without notice. We are here to help and hope to make this experience both fun and educational. If you have any questions please feel free to email. Please remember these awards are not free, they must be earned. Good Luck! - J.A. Phillips

The Artsite Award

When applying for awards myself, I have often looked for awards for artists and have found that there are few. I have decided to create this award to honour outstanding art related sites. I will be using my position as a professionally qualified graphic designer and illustrator to assess these sites. Any medium can be submitted, i.e paint, pencil, sculpture, wood, computer graphics... the more creative the better! The Artsite Award will be presented in its own merit, alongside the Firestarter Award if you choose to do so. Your site must achieve at least 68 points to qualify, and also contain sufficient information about the author and artwork displayed.

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